Nina Niu Sanford: CHALLENGE Trial at ASCO25 – Exercise in Adjuvant Colon Cancer
Nina Niu Sanford, Assistant Professor and Chief of Gastrointestinal Radiation Oncology at Harvard/Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Massachusetts General Hospital, shared a post by Amol Akhade, Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Suyog Cancer Clinics, on X, adding:
“Come on ASCO25, this 100% should have been a plenary!
7% improvement in 8-year OS with exercise in adjuvant colon cancer, greater than benefit for adding oxali to 5-FU (5% at 10 years in MOSAIC).
Exercise = $ effective, ~0 tox, and gives patients sense of empowerment.
Congrats Chris Booth et al!”
Quoting Amol Akhade‘s post:
“What if this was a drug ? NEJM | June 2025
CHALLENGE Trial: Structured exercise after adjuvant chemo in colon cancer
RCT | n=889 | Median FU: 7.9 yrs
3-yr structured aerobic program vs health ed alone
Primary Endpoint: Disease-Free Survival (DFS)
– HR 0.72 (95% CI: 0.55–0.94), p=0.02
– 5-yr DFS: 80.3% vs 73.9% (+6.4%)Overall Survival (OS)
– HR 0.63 (95% CI: 0.43–0.94)
– 8-yr OS: 90.3% vs 83.2% (+7.1%)Other highlights:
– ↓ Liver recurrence: 3.6% vs 6.5%
– ↓ New primary cancers: 5.2% vs 9.7%
– Improved cardiorespiratory fitness, QoL, 6-min walkAEs: ↑ MSK issues (18.5% vs 11.5%), mostly mild No major safety concerns
What if this was a drug? “Breakthrough”
$120K/yearFast-track approval Instead, it’s just structured EXERCISE.
Prescribe it like we would any other adjuvant therapy. Congratulations to Authors and Dr Chris Booth.”
Title: Structured Exercise after Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Colon Cancer
Authors: Kerry S. Courneya, Janette L. Vardy, Christopher J. O’Callaghan, Sharlene Gill, Christine M. Friedenreich, Rebecca K.S. Wong, Haryana M. Dhillon, Victoria Coyle, Neil S. Chua, Derek J. Jonker, Philip J. Beale, Kamal Haider, Patricia A. Tang, Tony Bonaventura, Ralph Wong, Howard J. Lim, Matthew E. Burge, Stacey Hubay, Michael Sanatani, Kristin L. Campbell, Fernanda Z. Arthuso, Jane Turner, Ralph M. Meyer, Michael Brundage, Patti O’Brien, Dongsheng Tu, Christopher M. Booth
Read OncoDaily’s Special Articles about ASCO 2025:
Highlights from ASCO 2025 Day 1
Highlights from ASCO 2025 Day 2
Highlights from ASCO 2025 Day 3
Highlights from ASCO 2025 Day 4
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